Letters to the Editor

Nov. 29, 2014

Why Was Beckham’s Catch A Big Deal?

To the Sports Editor:

Re “Tested, and Applauded,” Nov. 25: So what’s the big deal about Odell Beckham Jr.'s one-handed catch for the Giants? Any reasonably talented nonprofessional football player can make the average play; N.F.L. players are paid millions of dollars to make the unusual, above-average play. In this context, that’s all Beckham did last Sunday: an above-average job catching a football, albeit one-handed.

It should be noted that major league baseball players regularly make spectacular and critical catches. In this context, their defensive play and manifested skill levels should be considered more noteworthy in relation to N.F.L. skill levels in general and Beckham’s catch in particular.

EARL BEAL, Terre Haute, Ind.

Unequal Pay in Golf

To the Sports Editor:

Re “Seeking Par Off the Greens,” Nov. 26: For most professional tournaments, the purse of the winning golfer in any particular week on the PGA Tour is roughly the same as the entire purse for all female professionals in that week’s L.P.G.A. Tour event. The obstacles to female golfers can be removed only when the women are paid substantially more than what they are being paid now.

LEW LERMAN, Fairfield, Conn.

Academics First

To the Sports Editor:

Re “Columbia Will Take Look at Football Team’s Futility,” Nov. 22: With millions of dollars being invested in college sports throughout the country in recent years, we must be mindful that Columbia, Cornell and other Ivy League universities are academic institutions of the highest quality and that this has always been their mission. It is always satisfying to belong to a winner, but the winners we should be placing our greatest investment in are the students and graduates these universities produce.

Don’t get caught up in the mistaken idea that any institution of higher learning achieves its goal of academic quality on the playing fields.

WILLIAM E. ZITEK, Shelter Island Heights, N.Y.

Rose’s Wrong Message

To the Sports Editor:

Re “Bulls’ Rose Takes a Seat, and a Stand,” Nov. 21: When a professional athlete like Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls starts to think about his physical condition decades after he has played the game, it’s time to retire instead of sitting out every time he feels a little ache or pain.

William C. Rhoden condones the actions of Rose and San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich. But they are becoming co-conspirators in the game’s eventual extinction.

There will be no N.B.A. if fans stop buying tickets because they don’t know whether the players they want to see are going to actually play.

JACK STUTMAN, Orlando, Fla.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page SP6 of the New York edition with the headline: Why Was Beckham’s Catch A Big Deal? . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe